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Erratic Retrieves
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Has anyone run into this? Indigo loves retrieving his ball or anything else I throw. he’s like a rocket when he goes after it. The retrieve part is where he has issues. He faithfully picks up the ball but if the ball bounced he will scent back over every bounce the ball had taken. If the ball happened to bounce up against a tree he will just about climb the tree to sniff the point on the tree that the ball hit. He has chewed pieces out of the ball so it can, at times, bounce really erratically. The more erratic the more he has to scent the path at times going back over the path of the ball 3 times. It’s almost like he’s trying to confirm exactly what happened, isn’t really sure, so checks again until he’s got it down. Once confirmed he comes straight back to me with ball. He seems to love the scenting, tracking process and it would only be an issue if we were bird hunting. It just occurred to me that shot birds don’t bounce much so maybe it’s not really a hunting issue. Any thoughts?
I’m not a hunter myself, but this does seem like it’s related to the prey drive somehow.
Both of mine are very inconsistent when it comes to fetch and retrieve, and usually enjoy looking for the ball, being chased or chasing each other more than actually fetching and bringing the ball back.
Perhaps pick another toy? Frisbee maybe? And at the same time actually stimulate the fetch with something that has a strong smell? When Athena was a pup, someone told me to cut a slit in a tennis ball, and put treats in it. That actually worked very well with getting her more interested in the ball.
…unfortunately she was a bit possessive over the treats. And she figured out a way to get the treats out without my help by biting on it a certain way until the treats fell out. She ate the treats, tracked back to see if any dropped. Left the ball.
Forever Weimanamanama
My dog was not good at retrieving. As you said she would go very fast to get the ball but once she had it she preferred to sit down and chew on the ball (never coming back). We read some tips for teaching dogs to retrieve (apparently this is not something they all just do). The main idea is that we wanted her to play with US and use the ball as an instrument for her to play with us. If she just wanted to chew on the ball, then the ball was the important thing and not the playing (which apparently is not what you want when playing outside as YOU always want to be the interesting thing). So we started with tying a long rope to her collar and throwing the ball at distances in range with the rope. Once she got the ball, we would say “fetch” and if she decided to lay down and chew we would made her come to us by using the rope. Once she was with us, we would offer a treat and as a consequence she would drop the ball. We would give her the terat, act excited and back to trowing the ball, and then repeat and repeat. The idea is the same as ANY other training: you teach them what the word mean and then you have to make sure you have a way to make them do it , which in this case is the rope, and then you reward them. Now she loves retrieving as she is perfect at bringing the ball back every single time, even with distractions. Retrieving in the water is her favorite thing (she used to hate swimming).
I have a different question about playing fetch (I hope it is ok to add to this post). Does anyone have any ideas on how to teach a dog to track a thrown ball or frisbee? Winnie is good at retrieval & fetch when she is able to follow the path of the object I throw. For instance, if we visit a baseball diamond & I roll the ball across the infield, she’ll run after the ball & bring it back perfectly. However, if I throw the ball through the air instead of rolling it, she’ll have no idea where the ball went. I don’t know if it has something to do with eyesight (she’s also terrible at catching things I throw to her) or not paying attention or just never being able to pick up the path of the projectile. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Winnie, did you ever have her eye sight checked? If it’s something interesting, she shouldn’t want to take her eyes of it at any cost. Have you tried throwing something she REALLY wants? And then observe her line of sight?
Forever Weimanamanama
We did some basic tracking with Amos, he really enjoyed it. I’m sure if you google you’ll find enough information how to get started. We did the basic tracking a walked out path (they track the smell of your shoes) and had a tennis ball in a sock as tracking reward (which he otherwise does not get to play with because of his tennis ball fetish). You do need a very solid down stay if you are going to be putting out a track by yourself (in the woods or field, not at home, too many old tracks to follow). Otherwise take a buddy to stay with the dog so you have enough time to set out a track.
Other thing I saw the other day with some hunting club out in a field is how they drag a scented (with what?) cloth bag over the ground. That way you can easily make a very long track without having to shuffle your feet the whole way. Would take two to do that also but would be loads of fun for a weim!
What would you put in a cloth bag to set out a good scent?
What would you put in a cloth bag to set out a good scent?
Laundry, I guess? 🙂 The wife has those convenient netted bags with delicates lying around. I bet she wouldn’t mind if I use that.
Forever Weimanamanama
Ocha, great suggestion. I’ve done that some I guess I’ll need to be more consistent until he gets it down.
Winnie, I would get an eye check if they can do such a thing just to be sure. I have noticed that Indigo seems to switch between scent & sight. It doesn’t seem like the two senses work at the same time for him. If he looses sight of the ball he will go to scent mode & I’m always amazed that he can come within 6 inches of the ball and not see it so I started yelling “there” when he is in about 4 feet. The command ‘there’ seems to switch him from scent to Sight or maybe turns both on. He didn’t start out perfectly with sight tracking the ball but has gotten really good at it. I’m also pretty certain he listens to the sound of the ball in the air.
As far as what to use for scent, I got Indigo a Megalast Ball made by TW. They have a really strong vanilla scent that he can follow when it’s on the ground. You can also get pheasant and quail wings from “Gun Dog Supply” or Lyons Country Store” but my guess is anything would work Weims are right there next to Bloodhounds olfactory wise. Dead animals would be the first choice. I haven’t done this and perhaps Inge can elaborate, but I’ve heard of hunters using the same dead bird over and over. I think they keep them frozen, thaw them out to leave the trail then refreeze them. I do know the freeze dried pheasant wings I got hold their scent after several freeze/thaw cycles.
Thanks and good luck to all.
What would you put in a cloth bag to set out a good scent?
Laundry, I guess?
The wife has those convenient netted bags with delicates lying around. I bet she wouldn’t mind if I use that. DON’T YOU DARE!!!!!
Weimanamanama Weimaranermama
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